Tennis Maelstrom
by BloodySS2God
Summary: During his battle with Kabuto, while on the mission to bring Tsunade, a 12 year old Naruto was somehow transported to another world. This world was very different than his own. There were no shinobi here. But the people entertained themselves with many sports. Tennis was one of them. Now watch as he attempts to start anew as a tennis player under the tutelage of Echizen Nanjiroh.
1. Uzumaki meets Echizen

**Tennis Maelstrom**

**This was an idea I had after I started watching Prince of Tennis again. This story is inspired by the story "Tennis No Jutsu" by ZMiDnIgHtSuNz. Give it a read. Its really good.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 1:**

Naruto Uzumaki was confused. He didn't know what was going on. One moment he was using his new jutsu, the Rasengan on Orochimaru's lackey Kabuto and the next moment he felt his consciousness slipping. That bastard Kabuto was gloating on trying out Orochimaru's new space-time jutsu on him. Though he did remember snagging off that young looking old woman Tsunade's necklace but after that? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Logically he should've simply fallen unconscious from Kabuto's attack on his heart and should've woken up facing Tsunade. She was after all a medic.

Yet here he was lying on a bed in what appeared to be a hospital. The white sheets, white floor, white walls and -oh! What do you know?- white light right above his head were enough clues to him. Seriously why were the hospitals always white? Why not some other color? Like orange? Orange looks good on everything.

"Ohhh you're finally awake!" An unknown yet chirpy voice brought him out of his internal rant. He raised his head to see who it was that called out to him.

The man in front of him was pretty average looking. And if his white coat wasn't obvious enough, the stethoscope around his neck and the smell of different medicines coming from him clearly indicated that he was a doctor. Probably the one who had took care of him.

Naruto tried to sit up to thank him but that proved to be a mistake. Pain flared up in his body as soon as he moved. His whole body ached as if he had been crushed by a mountain and then the mountain had stomped over him again and again just for shits and giggles.

"H-hey don't do that! You're still hurt. Don't try to move too much. It will only worsen the pain." The doctor tried to soothe him.

"W-where am I? And w-who are you?" Naruto asked in a raspy voice. Damn his throat was dry as a desert.

Sensing this, the doctor gave him a glass of water. Which he greedily gulped down.

"I am Doctor Sora. Right now you are in the City Hospital. You were found in an ally, bloody and bruised. The person who found you quickly brought you here in his car. And good thing he did because if he were even an hour late, we might not have been able to save you." Dr Sora explained to Naruto.

Naruto for his part was shocked. What was going on? His battle with Kabuto wasn't that severe! He barely got injured at all in that fight! In fact the only major attack on him was that weird medical jutsu Kabuto used to harm his heart. But even that was an internal injury. So how could he have got so many external injuries?

No. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Things weren't adding up. And also the fact that he couldn't sense any chakra at all, was creeping him out. Even the civilians back in Konoha had some chakra, just dormant. But this guy had none. Even the air around lacked chakra. Something was definitely not right. He needs to be careful here.

Suddenly he had a realization. He was in a whole different world! That explains the lack of chakra here. And that Kabuto _did_ say about trying a space-time jutsu on him. Now he was worried. He was a complete stranger here and had no idea on what to do.

But calmed himself. Oddly enough he felt much smarter than he did before. Like a haze had been lifted from his mind. But that was for later. First he would try to get some information.

And so Naruto acted like he had forgotten everything but his name, and asked the doctor all he knew about this world.

* * *

Echizen Nanjiroh, former pro tennis legend, was not having a good time. Earlier today he had come across a 12 year old kid in critical state in an ally. He quickly brought the kid to the hospital. And waited for the doctor to finish the treatment.

What the doctor revealed later, sickened him. The kid was in a much worse shape than he first thought. It took everything the doctors had just to barely keep him out of danger. Even then his condition only stabilized after two hours of tedious hard work.

Nanjiroh didn't know what caused the kid to be put in such a state and frankly he didn't want to know either. He didn't know if he could stomach it.

"Ahh! There you are Echizen-san! I've been looking all over for you." Came Dr Sora.

"Hm? Sora-sensei? What is it?" Nanjiroh asked curiously.

Sora smiled. "Its about that kid you brought before. He's awake! And except for some body pains, he looks to be perfectly fine! Never before have I seen such an astronomical rate of recovery! Physically he's perfectly okay. But..." Sora trailed of.

"But what?" For some reason Nanjiroh had a bad feeling about this.

"*sigh* It seems that the trauma resulted in his loss of memories. He only remembers his name - Uzumaki Naruto." The good doctor solemnly explained.

Nanjiroh sighed. He was afraid something like this might happen. Incidents like this either mentally scar the victims or cause memory loss to suppress the trauma. He really felt bad for the kid. First he was put in such a bad state and now he lost his memories.

"Damn. Poor kid... Isn't there anything we can do to help him?" Nanjiroh inquired.

At this the doctor gave a sly little smile. "Actually I think there is a way! Here" he handed some papers to him.

Nanjiroh read the papers and was astonished.

"C-c-custody papers?!"

"Yeah. I think that you and your family could provide a nice atmosphere to him. Right now he needs a family to support him. And I know you all will help him immensely. Also... Don't you have a son of Naruto's age? Ryoma was it? He'll have a friend too. So what do you say?" he asked Nanjiroh.

Nanjiroh thought it over. Personally he had no problems with this. He wouldn't mind taking care of the kid at all. Hehe maybe he'll teach him some tennis as well. Ryoma wouldn't have too much problem. That kid may act cold but he was a softy at heart. Now only Ringo, his wife and Nanako, her niece remained. He didn't know how they'll react if he just brought a kid home out of nowhere...

Oh who was he kidding? They would probably hug him to death the moment they laid their eyes on him.

"Hmm ok. I'll take care of him. But what about Naruto? Will he be okay with this?" He asked.

The doctor gave a hearty laugh at this. "Ohh he'll be fine trust me. I already talked to him about this. He said that _as long as they aren't pompous douche bags, I'm okay with getting taken care of by a new family_ ... Hehe his words not mine."

Hearing this Nanjiroh sweat dropped.

"... For a kid, he certainly has a ... Colorful language if I do say so myself..." He deadpanned.

"Hehe yeah... Anyways you can go and meet and him while I prepare the release papers. But damn! I still can't believe he can heal that fast..." Sora continued his ramblings as he walked off.

Nanjiroh shrugged and went to Naruto's room. Since he is about to adopt him, he might as well introduce himself properly.

* * *

(At the Echizen residence that night)

"And that's how it is. Naruto will be a part of our family from now on." Nanjiroh just explained the situation to his family. And just as he expected, everyone was fine with it. They sympathized with Naruto and were willing to support him.

"Hehe I think its a great idea uncle!" Nanako agreed.

"Yes yes it is a marvellous idea! Ohhh I always wanted another son. Naru-chan come give mommy a hug!" She cooed and brought the embarrassed Naruto in a hug.

"Oh and Ryoma from next week on Naruto will go to Seigaku with you. I think I'll start teaching him tennis tomorrow while you go and play that under-16 tournament in Gakino Gizaka garden." Nanjiroh told his son.

"Heh... Fine with me" was Ryoma's cool answer.

Naruto, while embarrassed, was also very happy. All his life he had been alone but now he was in a world where he can start anew. Here in this place, he can finally have the one thing he yearned for the most.

_Family._

Unknown to him a small smile appeared on his face.

Also this game named tennis sounded interesting.

_Maybe arriving in this world wasn't all that bad after all._


	2. Maelstrom's tennis lesson

**Tennis Maelstrom**

**This was an idea I had after I started watching Prince of Tennis again. This story is inspired by the story "Tennis No Jutsu" by ZMiDnIgHtSuNz. Please give it a read. Its really good.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 2:**

(Next Morning)

"RISE AND SHINE! Wakey wakey kiddos!" Nanjiroh's loud shout echoed throughout the house.

Poor Naruto was startled by the loud wake-up call and promptly fell off his bed. Ryoma on the other hand was used to this and quietly got up.

"Tch. Baka-Oyaji…" Quiet yet annoyed.

After their morning duties and a nice breakfast, they split up. Nanjiroh and Naruto headed to the tennis court while Ryoma headed towards Gakino Gizaka garden for the tournament.

* * *

(With Nanjiroh and Naruto)

"Alright then. Let's start the Echizen Tennis Crash Course. First I'll teach you about the various grips to use. They are the Eastern Backhand Grip, Continental Grip, Eastern Forehand Grip, Semi-Western Forehand Grip, Western Forehand Grip, Double-Handed Forehand Grip, Semi-Western Backhand Grip, Western Backhand Grip, Double-Handed Backhand Grip…."

He showed Naruto the grips as he named them. It didn't take long for Naruto to memorize them. As a ninja, he had been trained to observe and memorize. He also memorized the different stances Nanjiroh-Ojisan showed him. He also learned all the rules. It didn't take him long to learn the basics properly.

Nanjiroh was astounded. He had never seen anybody learn that fast. It was unreal! Even his son, Ryoma who is hailed as a genius in tennis didn't learn the basics so quickly! But the rate at which Naruto learns was truly mind boggling!

Recomposing himself Nanjiroh continued.

"Well done brat. I didn't think you'll learn this fast. Now let's put your knowledge to the test shall we? We'll have a short, single game practice match." Nanjiroh offered. He wanted to test the kid. He wanted to see whether Naruto will be able to implement his newly learned basics in a match.

Naruto quickly understood Nanjiroh's intentions and gave an excited grin.

"Lets do this Ojisan!"

"Naruto you serve first. Since this is an unofficial 1 game match, we'll alternate the serve after every four points."

"Okay~" Naruto chirped. He was very excited for his first match.

Both of them took their positions and began. Naruto tossed the ball high up in the air and hit it, watching as it headed towards Nanjiroh's court.

***BAM***

The ball _slammed_ on Nanjiroh's side. It didn't even bounce. It just kept drilling into the ground. Only after a minute or so did it stop spinning. By then it was literally embedded in the court.

"Wahooo! I scored! 15-love!" Naruto started jumping in excitement.

Nanjiroh on the other hand was shocked.

_'W-what monstrous strength! His strength prevented the ball from bouncing and forced it to dig into the court. And that serve! Its speed was mind blowing!'_

"Whoa kiddo! That's some amazing strength you got there! That speed and power was unreal.." Nanjiroh exclaimed.

_'That was amazing strength for him? But it was only about a half of my strength! Man the people of this world must be pretty weak. Still I guess I have to limit myself here to get a good game' _Naruto thought.

"Hehehe thanks. But I think I simply tried too hard on that one and got lucky" Naruto explained bashfully. He wasn't really used to getting praised.

Nanjiroh narrowed his eyes but shrugged, filled up the hole with sand and gestured Naruto to continue.

Once more Naruto tossed the ball high and hit it as soon as it started to descend. The ball soared to Nanjiroh's side, fast but much slower than the previous one. It bounced off and headed straight towards the waiting Nanjiroh.

The older Echizen hit the ball back to Naruto who returned it. Their rally continued for some time till Nanjiroh hit a powerful smash.

"15-all" he stated with a smirk.

Naruto frowned. Even in his limited state he was still exceptionally fast and strong. But Nanjiroh-Ojisan was way more skilled than him.

_'Speed and strength alone wont help me win this match. What to do?...'_ But his thoughts were interrupted.

"Oi oi whats the matter kiddo! At this rate you wont even win another point let alone the game. Give up already." Nanjiroh taunted. _'Lets see what you can do kid.'_

Naruto smirked in response.

"Heh.. Not a chance ojisan! I never give up! I'll win this no matter what." He shot back.

He served again, this time aiming at the farthest corner of Nanjiroh's side.

"Hoh! Nice try but that won't work"

Nanjiroh returned the ball to the opposite corner and won the point.

"15-30"

Naruto tsked and served again. Nanjiroh returned it once again but this time he was ready. He dashed towards the corner and hit it. He then quickly dashed to the center.

Nanjiroh hit back the ball yet again. He couldn't help but smile.

_'He's learning quickly...'_

Naruto returned it once again and their rally continued. Suddenly Nanjiroh lobbed the ball and Naruto took that chance to smash it. The ball hit the racket's handle, causing it to fly away from Nanjiroh's hand.

"30-all" Naruto grinned. "How was that ojisan?"

Nanjiroh smirked in return." Tch. Cheeky little brat. Its my serve now."

Both took their positions. Naruto tensed. Ready to return any serve.

Nanjiroh on the other hand appeared relaxed as he got ready to serve. His left foot in front of his right foot, turned so that his toes directly faced the net.

"Naruto, I must say you really are something. To be this good when you just learned how to play. You'll go far kid. But I think I'll give you a little taste of my _true_ tennis." His face then turned serious.

He tossed up the ball high up in the air and jumped a bit. He briefly turned his body in mid air and quickly hit the ball.

The ball raced to Naruto's side of the court. Naruto positioned himself to return the serve but something unexpected happened.

After bouncing, instead of going outwards towards the right, it turned _inwards _and headed left, towards his face. He was able to dodge it at the last second but the sudden twist left him speechless.

"40-30" Nanjiroh smirked. (Since it is Nanjiroh's serve, his score is said first)

"W-what was that?" Naruto asked, bewildered at what just happened.

"**Twist Serve**. A special serve that instead of going outwards like a normal serve, goes inwards and heads towards the receiver's face. I will explain the mechanics later." Nanjiroh explained.

Silence.

"Lets continue shall we? Or are you too scared to play." He taunted.

_That_ got a response.

"Grrr hell no! Lets do this!" Naruto once again got in position.

_'That serve is good. Yes. But there's must a way to return it. Just like Kakashi Sensei used to say. Look underneath the underneath. Hmmm... maybe... Thats it! I might just have an idea on how to counter it...' _Naruto thought.

Nanjiroh once again tossed the ball and served it with a great amount of spin.

Naruto sprang to action. The moment he saw Nanjiroh put so much spin, he jumped back and moved to the left to provide himself more room to play.

_'My theory is that by jumping back and creating more space, one can safely return the Twist Serve. Now lets put it to test'_ Naruto thought as he got ready to return the serve.

But alas. Something unexpected happened _again_. The ball landed in Naruto's court and bounced. Yes. But instead of bouncing _forward and left_ like a twist serve, it bounced _backwards and right_ and hit the net. The complete opposite of Twist Serve.

Naruto was shocked, while Nanjiroh gave a smug grin.

"Behold, the **Reverse Twist**. Too bad for you. I won kiddo!"

"Whoa... The ball bounced backwards... I didn't even think that was possible with a serve!" Naruto was in awe of Nanjiroh's superb skills.

Nanjiroh was having his own thoughts. _'He managed to produce a counter for the Twist Serve by just seeing it once. Its a good thing I saw that at the last second and converted it to Reverse Twist. Hehe what a scary brat! But unfortunately for you kiddo, Reverse Twist was created to counter that very same counter of the Twist Serve you just tried to use.'_

Nanjiroh turned away and started to walk off.

"You did good Naruto. Extremely good. You've learned the basics completely. Right now all you can do is to get experience and improve your skills. You can also try to create new techniques. You've got great potential kid. Someday you can even be one of the best. But ..."

At this Nanjiroh stopped and half turned. He gave the awed Naruto a smirk.

"**_Mada mada dane_**" with that he walked away in the sunset. Mentally praising himself for the cool and awesome exit.

Naruto gazed at Nanjiroh's back in deep thought.

_'I lost. I tried to play smart but he outwitted me. He defeated me effortlessly in the end. The loss stings but...'_

He ran off towards Nanjiroh and caught up to him. Walking beside him, he finished his thought.

_'The loss stung but I had fun today. Tennis is a such a fun game'_

Naruto smiled. He'll take this loss as a lesson. He'll train his skills real hard for the next few days till gets to go to Seigaku with Ryoma. It is said that Seigaku's tennis club is really good. One of the best in Japan. Playing against them would be fun.

* * *

(Later that night at the Echizen residence)

"Hahahahahahahahahhahaha! I can't believe this! You got disqualified for arriving late just because a girl told you wrong directions. Hahahaha oh my god thats hilarious..." Nanjiroh laughed out.

Naruto barely managed to suppress his laughter.

Ryoma was annoyed at his father's laughter. He had a tick mark on his forehead.

"Tch... Baka-Oyaji. No need to laugh that much." He muttered in annoyance.

Sure he too was annoyed for being disqualified like that. But at least he managed to take out his anger on that pompous 16 year old bully.

Tch. The moron didn't even know the proper grips and tried to act all high and mighty. He even tried to cheat, but lost anyways.

What a loser.

Thankfully Ryoma's mom stopped his father's laughter with her frying pan's help.

"Now now thats enough dear. It wasn't Ryoma's fault so stop aggravating him. And weren't you supposed to teach Naruto tennis today? How did that go?" Ringo asked her husband.

At this Ryoma perked up. He was also curious about Naruto's progress. After all Naruto was younger than him, so technically was his younger brother.

And of course as his older brother it was his responsibility to check on his little brother's progress in tennis. And if possible help him as it was the older brother's duty to help his younger, inexperienced brother. After all he was the older brother..

"You're mentally gloating about being the older brother again aren't you?" Naruto deadpanned at Ryoma.

Apparently Ryoma had taken great pride and joy in finally being an older sibling. Of course he never failed to remind Naruto of this particular fact. He often gloated about it too. In just one day, he managed to gloat a dozen times.

Ryoma looked away. "I don't know what are you talking about. I did not do anything like that."

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"DID TOO!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID TOO!"

"DID TOO!"

"DID NOT!"

Ryoma smirked and Naruto realized his slip up.

"Heh… _Mada mada dane_ Naruto" Ryoma smugly stated.

"Grrr... Why you..." Naruto growled. He was annoyed at being tricked like this. Clearly indicated by his increasingly twitching eyebrow.

"If you two brats are done with your quarreling, can we continue?" Nanjiroh dryly asked.

Both of them turned to see Nanjiroh's will-you-hurry-hell-up-I'm-so-bored face. While Ringo and Nanako simply smiled at them.

Embarrassed, Naruto and Ryoma sat down and quietly ate the food, while Nanjiroh told them about Naruto's training and his amazing physical qualities. Needless to say the Echizen family was impressed. Nanjiroh was a legend even among pro tennis players. To make him use both Twist Serve and Reverse Twist in a minor practice like this was truly an amazing feat, he had only done so with Ryoma before. It clearly proved just how much he believed in Naruto's and Ryoma's potential.

Dinner after that was a quite affair. Done with eating, they all went to sleep.

On his bed, Naruto started to recall the events of the day. Nanjiroh's skills really astounded him today. No matter what he tried, Nanjiroh was always a step ahead. Their match showed him that if he were to limit himself physically, he would have to work on his skills to beat his opponents.

Naruto decided that he would train all his skills, both ninja skills and tennis skills, in the coming few days. He didn't want to beat his opponents with brute force. He wanted to use some cool-ultra-awesome-special moves like Nanjiroh-Ojisan did against him.

Tomorrow he would start his special training.

He couldn't wait to play tennis against all kinds of players.

Beware everyone!

_The Maelstrom has learned Tennis. And he aims to be the best._

**There it is. The end of Chapter 2. Naruto has learned tennis and is very good at hit. Nowhere near Nanjiroh's level of course. Right now he is about even with Ryoma. Naruto has amazing physical prowess while Ryoma has exceptional technique. This somewhat evens them out.**

**Next chapter will be their arrival at Seigaku's tennis club. What mayhem will the prince and maelstrom unleash? That remains to be seen. I don't know when it will be posted though. I'm still working on it and college is taking up all my time. But I'll try to update as soon as I can.**

**Also Nanjiroh's move "Reverse Twist" was something I made by simply reversing the working of Twist Serve. I don't know if such a move actually existed in the anime/manga under another name or not. If yes, oh well. If not, hurray for me :P**


	3. Day One at Seigaku

**Tennis Maelstrom**

**This was an idea I had after I started watching Prince of Tennis again. This story is inspired by the story "Tennis No Jutsu" by ZMiDnIgHtSuNz. Please give it a read. It's really good.**

**I haven't updated in a while and for that I apologize. I had been going through some family problems and could rarely concentrate on writing. I thank everyone who had waited all this time, for their patience. I still can't give you all a definite schedule. Because I don't know when I'll update next.**

**Anyways, enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 3: Day One at Seigaku**

"Ne Ryoma what is school like around here?" Naruto asked his new brother/friend.

"Uhh normal I guess..?" Ryoma answered as he gave Naruto an are-you-serious look. How could his new younger brother not know about school? It just didn't make any sense to him. Or maybe...

Maybe it had something to do with his amnesia? He might have lost a bit of common knowledge as well.

Ryoma's thoughts drifted to the past week. After Naruto joined the Echizen family, he learned tennis and then trained a lot to fine tune his new techniques. He was now well versed in all the basics. He had also trained with Ryoma. Nothing serious like a proper match but more like rallying whenever they got the chance. Now while he might be better than Ryoma in physical attributes, Ryoma was better than him in skill. He was after all more experienced.

At first he was no match for Ryoma's skill, but he gradually got better and by the end of the week, he had improved drastically. Both of them were now pretty much equal in level. In terms of skill that is.

Naruto still didn't have any special/signature technique like the Twist Serve, but he was sure he could come up with something with the help of a little bit of chakra.

"Heh... I hope it isn't boring..." Naruto wondered out loud.

Ryoma shook his head. "Foolish little brother. School is never fun. You should just sleep through it. Also there are these weird creatures called teachers who are always ready to get you. Better be careful of them. But don't worry. If someone messes with you, I, your super awesome big brother will be there to help you." He explained.

Naruto sweatdropped as Ryoma once again started to ramble about being an awesome big brother. In the past week, he and Ryoma had gotten pretty close and had become best friends.

He also found out that Ryoma was overprotective as hell.

"Oi Naruto! Are you listening?" Ryoma's question brought him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Naruto asked.

Ryoma looked annoyed but composed himself quickly. He was getting used to Naruto's short attention span.

"I said that after school we'll head to the tennis courts."

"Hai hai" Naruto mock saluted. With that the duo headed towards their new school.

* * *

(After school)

"That was so boring! You were right Ryoma, sleeping throughout the day helped a lot." Naruto complained.

Their first day at school had ended and now they were on their way to the tennis courts.

"Hey you are the new students right? I saw you in my class. My name is Horio. I have 2 years of tennis experience. Judging by the fact that you both have rackets, I assume that you are headed for the tennis club. I'm going to join it too. Did you know that..." The one who called himself Horio continued to ramble on and on.

'_Wow he talks soooo much dattebayo! He could give Ino a run for her money….. And that's saying something!_' Naruto grimaced. He and Ryoma ignored Horio and moved on.

After asking the directions from a senior the duo, joined by Horio, finally arrived at the tennis courts.

Which was pretty empty at that time.

The duo also met two fellow freshmen, Kachiro and Katsuo. They explained that most of the 2nd and 3rd years were gone on a playing tour. So the registration would happen tomorrow. Most of the freshman members had gone home. The only reason these two were here was because they had ball-collecting duty.

Naruto and Ryoma groaned. They came today for nothing! Troublesome...

Horio meanwhile was admiring the tennis facilities with a goofy grin on his face.

"Seigaku's facilities really are amazing..." He muttered.

At that moment….

"Hey! What are you all doing here?! Are you guys here to join the tennis club? We are Hayashi and Ikeda of 2nd year. "A sophomore introduced.

"Yeah" Naruto drawled out.

"But it appears that there won't be any registration today. So we'll come tomorrow." Ryoma said. With that said, both turned around and started walking away.

"WAIT! You came all this way. It'll be a waste if you didn't play a little tennis. How about we all play a small game? A simple game wouldn't hurt, right?" Ikeda tempted the duo.

"Hmmm alright. I haven't tennis all day so I'm itching to get on the court. How about you Ryoma? You okay with this?" Naruto asked.

Ryoma simply shrugged. "Fine by me" he agreed.

Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo agreed as well. Horio was new here and just wanted to play on Seigaku's well known facilities. Kachiro and Katsuo on the other hand simply wanted to play. Seigaku's tennis club had a special rule. Until the end of summer, freshman weren't allowed to play at all, unless given special permission by the seniors. So even though they have been part of the tennis club for a couple of weeks, they still haven't even played _once_.

None of them noticed the smug looks on the two sophomore's faces. Both of them exchanged glances and had one single thought.

'_Hehe Suckers…..'_

None of them except Naruto and Ryoma that is. Seeing the senpais smirking like that, they narrowed their eyes. They had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

(A couple of minutes later)

They were now at the tennis court in their playing attire.

Ryoma was wearing his standard attire. White cap, white sports shirt with red highlights, black shorts and white sneakers with red stripes. He also had a red-framed racket. A notable thing about his attire was the '**R**' embroiled on his cap and his shoes. There was '**R**' at the bottom of the racket handle as well.

Naruto on the other hand, was wearing an attire with some differences as compared to Ryoma's. He wasn't wearing a cap, deciding to let his spiky hair move freely. Instead, there was a red sash wrapped around his forehead. There was white '**U**' on it as well. Since his hitai-ate (forehead protector) had not come with him in this new world, he decided to use this sash as its replacement. He was also wearing an orange sports shirt with white highlights, black shorts and dark blue sneakers. His racket had a dark blue frame and had an orange '**U**' at the bottom of its handle.

Both boys were radiating confidence. They had an aura of that just screamed _'not to be messed with'_, much to the amazement of their fellow freshmen. The two sophomores on the other hand did not appear happy at all. They did not like how these two freshmen were staring back at their senpais so defiantly.

"Tch cocky little brats…"Hayashi muttered.

"Yeah, I can't stand them. Let's knock them down a few pegs…" Ikeda smirked to his friend. He then cleared his throat.

"All right then. Here are the rules of the game. We'll place a can on this side of the court and you have to knock it down by serving from the other side. You'll get 10 chances. The start off is usually 500 yen but since you're freshman we'll make it 200 yen. If you win, you'll get 10,000 yen. So how about it? You guys up for it?" Ikeda explained and dared them to take the challenge.

"10,000 yen? Of course we'll take it!" Horio, Kachiro and Katsuo exclaimed. Naruto simply grinned while Ryoma's face was blank.

The game started and it was Katsuo's turn first.

1st Try: Miss

2nd Try: Miss

3rd Try: Miss

4th Try: Miss

5th Try: Miss

6th Try: Miss

7th Try: Miss

8th Try: Miss

9th Try: Miss

10th Try: Miss

"Awww I couldn't even touch the can!" Katsuo sighed.

Next was Kachiro's turn.

1st Try: Miss

2nd Try: Miss

3rd Try: Miss

4th Try: Miss

5th Try: Miss

6th Try: Miss

7th Try: Miss

8th Try: Miss

9th Try: Miss

10th Try: Miss

"Guess I can't do it after all. This game is tougher than it looks." Kachiro muttered.

Horio walked forward and huffed. "HA! You guys are hopeless. Your serves didn't even land close to the can, let alone hit it. Were you guys even aiming at hit?" He teased haughtily.

Kachiro and Katsuo frowned. "Hey we can't help! This is the first time we tried tennis. It's not our fault that we are totally new at this." Kachiro defended.

Hearing this, Horio grimaced. "Oh…. Sorry I didn't know that…. Now I feel bad for teasing you.." He apologized. He didn't mean any harm while teasing them. He just assumed that since they were in the tennis club, they had some experience in playing.

He shook his head to clear those thoughts. "Well then, I guess I don't have a choice but to show you guys how it is done. Time to bring forth my tennis experience of 2 years." With that said Horio got ready to serve.

1st Try: Miss

2nd Try: Miss

3rd Try: Miss

4th Try: Miss

5th Try: Miss

6th Try: Miss

7th Try: Miss

8th Try: Miss

9th Try: Miss

"Grrrr this is getting ridiculous. I haven't even hit the can once." Horio growled. His tries were much better than Kachiro and Katsuo, but he couldn't hit the ball. His serves got close but _just_ missed the can.

"Hehehe what happened Horio-kun? You said you have 2 years of tennis experience, but I haven't seen anything special till now. For a guy who boasts so much, you're not very good. Hehehe" Kachiro lightly teased.

Horio had a tick mark on his forehead. "Argh this is so annoying!" He served but accidently the ball hit the racket's frame. _'Crap!'_ His eyes followed the ball as it somehow traveled towards the can. The yellow ball skimmed the edge of the can but passed it.

The 2nd years heaved a sigh of relief. They motioned for Naruto to start his turn.

1st Try: Naruto got ready to serve. He frowned. When Horio's serve hit the can, there was a weird noise coming from it.

"Oi Naruto! Hit the top of the can. There are rocks in it. The Senpais are cheating." Ryoma shouted to him. Naruto smirked while the two 2nd years grimaced. "Aye sir!" he chirped, oddly resembling a certain blue cat from a certain anime.

Naruto tossed the ball high and hit the ball. For years he had been practicing his aim with kunai and shuriken. Not only that, for the past week he had practiced tennis a lot. So his ball control was nothing short of amazing. He watched as the ball travelled towards the can and hit the top. The can was knocked down and small pebbles spilled out of it.

The freshmen gasped at the obvious set up by the sophomores, who were frowning at Naruto and Ryoma. _'T-these b-brats…'_ they thought viciously. But before they could say a thing, Ryoma served a ball and hit the knocked down can directly. He gave Naruto a challenging smirk. Naruto smirked in return and served again, hitting the can. He served again, but this time the can was hit by two balls at the same time. Naruto and Ryoma looked at each other and smirked. Both eager for a challenge. _'Heh…Bring it on! I won't lose to you!'_ they simultaneously thought.

Meanwhile, the freshmen trio's and the two sophomores' jaws were hanging. They were amazed at what the duo could do. Their skills baffled their audience. "S-sugoi **(Amazing/Incredible)**! What awesome ball control! You two are amazing!" Kachiro gushed. Horio and Katsuo agreeing with him. Ikeda and Hayashi were astounded. These brats were _much_ more skilled than they first thought.

"Ne senpai, if we hit the can 100 times, will we get 1,000,000 yen?" Ryoma asked cheekily. Naruto snickered. The sophomores growled in annoyance.

"W-why you little-"

*clang*

The sudden sound gained everyone's attention. They turned around and saw that the can had been blown away and had hit the steel fence, which had caused the sound.

"Heh I hit it, lucky~" A very tall guy with black spiky hair exclaimed. His serve was not only accurate enough to hit the can, but was powerful enough to blow it away. Once more the freshmen trio was speechless. **(Damn it's pretty annoying typing freshmen trio again and again. But oh well :/ )**

Naruto was of course unimpressed. Such feats of strength were child's play for him. Ryoma was not that impressed either. Although that was because of his experience. He had played against a lot of players that possessed great physical strength. So he only had a raised eyebrow at the display.

Ikeda and Hayashi, on the other hand gulped. Their faces displaying the _'oh-fuck-we're-so-screwed'_ expression.

"M-Momoshiro?! W-what are you doing here?" They asked nervously.

Momoshiro simply smirked. "Forget about what I'm doing here. What are _you_ guys doing, Ikeda, Hayashi? Just because the senpais are not here doesn't mean that you can bully the freshmen." He reprimanded them.

"Ummm y-you see uhh we were just ummm- uhhh" Ikeda and Hayashi stuttered nervously.

Everyone watched in amusement as the two bullies struggled to answer.

"Anyways let's go Naruto. I think we have wasted enough time as it is. We'll play some tennis at home." Ryoma gestured. "Aye!" Naruto chirped and prepared to leave.

But…

"Hey who said you can go? So you're the Echizen Ryoma that old lady was talking about. Let's play a match. I'm Takeshi Momoshiro, a 2nd year and a regular of Seigaku's Tennis Team." Momoshiro challenged.

Ryoma smirked. "Heh fine by me. Don't feel too bad when you lose senpai" He taunted. Naruto meanwhile pouted. He wanted to play too. Why can't someone challenge him too?

"Oi oi Momo practice after club is against the rules. You can't do that" Ikeda warned.

"Shhh you keep quiet about this and I won't tell anyone about you bullying the freshmen" Momoshiro winked. Everyone sweat dropped. Naruto snickered. "Hehe I like this guy!"

None of them had noticed, but they had another small audience. This new audience consisted of only four people. Two schoolgirls and two adults. The schoolgirls were Sakuno and Tomoka. They didn't know a thing about tennis and were simply their by chance. Well at least Tomoka was. Sakuno was there to join the girl's tennis club. Her interest in tennis was suddenly woken up a week ago after seeing a _certain_ Echizen in play. Tomo was their just to check out the new guys.

The adults were Inoue and Shiba. They on the other hand were there for more professional reasons. Literally. They were reporters from a local tennis monthly magazine. Today they were at Seigaku to see the skills of the club members. After finding out that the seniors were gone they were preparing to leave, but stumbled on this whole incident. Which they couldn't be more thankful for.

After all now they will get to see a new talented freshman face off against a regular. This was sure to be one hell of a match. Though Inoue thought that Ryoma looked vaguely familiar, but couldn't exactly pin point it.

* * *

(Back at the court)

Ryoma and Momoshiro were ready to start the match. Ryoma held up his racket upside down, the frame just touching the ground and the **'R'** at the other end facing upwards.

"Which?"

"Smooth"

Kachiro and Katsuo were confused. "Huh? Which? Smooth? What do they mean?" Kachiro asked.

Horio huffed haughtily. "Ha! You don't even know that much? Oh well looks like it's time for my 2 years of tennis experience to come through. At the start of the match, players use this method to determine who serves first. The racket is spun and the bottom of the grip is observed once it lands. If the letter at that end is upside down, it is called **Rough**. And if the letter lands upright, it is called **Smooth**. So in this case, if the letter lands as **'R'** instead of upside down, it will be Smooth. And since Momoshiro-senpai called smooth, he'll be given the choice to serve first or not. If he doesn't choose serve then he can simply choose the side of the court he wants to play in." Horio explained the duo in detail.

Both of them nodded. "Heh… you sure know quite a bit don't you Horio-kun?"

Horio once again huffed. "hehe of course I do! I do after all have 2 years of tennis experience you know! That is not something to be trifled with ….." Horio's boasts were promptly ignored.

Naruto just looked at Horio dryly. _'He may be knowledgeable but damn he talks a lot..'_ He decided to just move on.

Ryoma spun his racket and looked as it landed. Momoshiro smirked.

"Smooth! Ok then. You can have the serve. I'll just take that side of the court."

With that they finally took their positions. Naruto decided to be the referee of the match.

Ryoma began his service game. His racket in right hand. He tossed the ball high up and hit it. Everyone watched as it soared high and then fell downwards and landed in Momoshiro's court, earning him a point.

"15-love" Naruto announced.

"That was a good serve kid. But I've been told that you can use the Twist Serve. I wanna see that." Momoshiro challenged.

Ryoma simply gazed at him and proceeded. He tossed the ball and hit. But it was different than before. The ball landed in Momoshiro's court and bounced inwards, towards his face. Momoshiro stepped back and got ready to hit, but the ball hit his wrist. The racket flew out of his hand, shocking everyone around.

"Now that's more like it" Momoshiro whistled. _'The call is sharper than I thought. Then I guess I just have to go for it when it spins'_ he mused internally.

"Ahh that's Ryoma-kun's twist Serve!" Sakuno exclaimed. Tomoka simply gushed at Ryoma's coolness. "Kyaa! Ryoma-sama! That was sooo cool!"

"T-Tomo-chan! Don't be so loud!" Sakuno shushed her friend meekly.

"30-love" Naruto announced.

"W-whoa Echizen can use the Twist Serve?" Horio was impressed.

"Twist Serve?" Katsuo asked.

"Generally speaking, it's the reverse of the slice serve that turns left! But in tennis, unlike the slice, it bounces when there is a top spin." Horio explained, with his hands crossed and the 'I-have-two-years-of-experience-in-tennis' look on his face. "So in other words, the ball flies up to the opponent's face."

Ryoma served once more. But this time Momoshiro was more prepared. He took a step back, to the right, and aimed his racket for the ball. "All right I got it!" The ball hit the racket but then spun off in the air, making Momoshiro lose another point. "Argh damn! It didn't work. I guess plain timing isn't enough after all."

"40-love"

"1-0 Game to Ryoma!" Naruto announced as Ryoma hit another service ace.

"Oi oi how could this be happening? Momoshiro is in the regulars and he wasn't able to return a single serve? How could that freshman do so well against him?" Hayashi was amazed.

Next was Momoshiro's service game. The game went on and Momoshiro displayed his strength. Ryoma tried to beat it but was having some difficulty.

"40-30"

"1-1 Game to Momoshiro" Naruto announced the current score.

Ryoma once again served. Momoshiro tried to return the Twist Serve, but wasn't successful. Though he _was_ starting to get the hang of it. The game went on until….

"40-love"

The ball once more landed near Momoshiro's feet. He stepped back and turned. Ready to hit the ball. The ball hit the racket and bounced off. Everyone watched as the ball hit the net and fell in Ryoma's court.

"40-15"

Momoshiro smiled. "Heh Lucky~"

Ryoma frowned and served the twist serve. This time Momoshiro was prepared. He stepped back and returned the serve perfectly. Winning him another point as Ryoma was unable to return it. Momoshiro whistled innocently while thinking smugly _'I've finally got it down hehe'_

"40-30" Naruto frowned. This was the first time he had seen Ryoma's twist serve countered so early in the match. The spectators were astounded.

"N-no way! Ryoma-sama's twist serve was beaten?!" Tomoka wondered.

"Hmm Momoshiro-kun really is something. To figure out the twist serve in only the third game of the match? Truly worthy of being a regular of Seigaku."Inoue commented. _'But still…. For Ryoma to be able to use the twist serve that well at such a young age….. That's some serious skill he has'_ were his thoughts.

"W-whoa! Momoshiro sempai is amazing! Echizen could be in trouble here…" Horio muttered.

Hearing this Inoue froze and looked thoughtful. _'Did he just say Echizen?! Hmm now that I look closely, Ryoma does bear semblance to Echizen Nanjiroh-sama…. Could it be?...'_

"Alright then! Bring it on kiddo! I've already got that serve down. Let's see what you do now" Momoshiro taunted. Clearly believing that he had the upper hand.

Once again Ryoma served. But this time it was a regular serve. The ball landed near Momoshiro's feet and he hit it. The ball soared and then fell in Ryoma's court. Ryoma returned it and a rally began. Momoshiro tried to use his strength to his advantage, but Ryoma was having none of that. He used his superior speed and technique to dominate the rally. The rally went on for a while, but soon ended.

"2-1 Game to Ryoma"

Ryoma smirked. He switched the racket from his right hand to his left hand.

"Hey I just remembered I have to do something. So I have to quit, unfortunately" Momoshiro suddenly announced.

"EH?" was the shocked response of everyone.

Ryoma stood there dumbfounded. But soon shrugged and walked off. Naruto got off the referee's seat and followed him as they both headed home. They met with Sakuno and her friend. But it turns out that Ryoma had completely forgotten about her. Even though they just met a week ago. Poor girl. The crowd too eventually dispersed and everyone went their own way.

* * *

As Momoshiro stood there, an aged woman approached him.

"So… what do you think of him? You wanted to play against Ryoma the moment I told you about him. You even forfeited the match. Was your leg injury bothering you again?" she asked in concern.

Momoshiro looked away. "Maybe…" he muttered.

The woman smirked. "To think that Ryoma would give you so much trouble. Granted you were handicapped by your injury…"

But Momoshiro rolled his eyes. "You and I both know that's not the case, old hag. He is left handed but still played using his right hand. It's clear that he noticed my injury and went easy on me. And yet he was that good….. Damn what a scary kid." He chuckled.

The 'old hag' scowled at being called that. This woman was none other than Ryuzaki Sumire. Coach of Seigaku's tennis club. And Sakuno's grandmother. She had seen Ryoma's skill a week ago and was greatly interested in his plays. The fact that Ryoma was Nanjiroh's son simply put icing on the cake. Nanjiroh was her old student after all. But now she was interested in this Naruto as well. She had seen a brief display of his skill during the whole knock-the-can-down-with-a-serve incident earlier today.

Looks like she had to keep an eye on those two.

"Anyways…. We're done for today. Go home and rest." She ordered.

Momoshiro nodded and headed home. Ryuzaki sensei went home as well, after doing some paperwork of the club. As she headed home she only had a single thought.

_The future looked incredibly interesting for Seigaku's Tennis Club._

**There it is. The end of Chapter 3. This chapter was Ryoma centric for the most part. Don't worry. Naruto will get his share of spotlight soon. **

**The duo had an interesting first day at Seigaku. But this is only the beginning. Their skills had caught attention of quite a few people. How will this play out for them? Who knows?**

**Anyways, I'm still thinking about Naruto's special moves. If you've got any ideas, feel free to share them with me. I'll really appreciate it.**


	4. Senpai's Challenge?

**Tennis Maelstrom**

**This was an idea I had after I started watching Prince of Tennis again. This story is inspired by the story "Tennis No Jutsu" by ZMiDnIgHtSuNz. Please give it a read. It's really good.**

**I haven't updated in a while and for that I apologize. I had been going through some family problems and could rarely concentrate on writing. I thank everyone who had waited all this time, for their patience. I still can't give you all a definite schedule. Because I don't know when I'll update next.**

_**( NOTE: Freshman – 1st Years ; Juniors – 2nd Years ; Seniors – 3rd Years )**_

**Anyways, enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 4: Senpai's Challenge?**

It had been a day since Naruto and Ryoma joined Seigaku's tennis club. After their initial confrontation with their senpais, they had become quite the talk. Club members were talking about the new freshman duo and their awesome skills.

Of course most of them hadn't seen aforementioned skills but they had no reason to not believe. The fact that one of them, Ryoma, had beaten Momoshiro, who was a regular, was enough proof for them. It was also rumored that the other freshman Naruto was quite skilled as well.

As a result of this both of them had gained some popularity. Much to the pride of their fellow freshman, who started idolizing them and were determined to work even harder.

But of course this had its own consequences. Juniors (Second year students) or sophomores were not happy with this at all. They were getting irritated with the freshmen's growing popularity. To them, Ryoma and Naruto were just little punks who don't know their places.

And it was the job of their senpai to show their rightful place.

At least that was the opinion of one Arai Masashi.

* * *

(Outside Seigaku)

"Echizen Ryoma and Uzumaki Naruto?" A half bald guy asked another guy with a plaster on his nose.

"Didn't you hear? From what Momoshiro told me, Echizen isn't a normal first year. Even Ryuzaki-sensei said that both of them are quite something. Since its coming from them, it must be true, right Oishi?" A cat like third year told Oishi.

"Well that's true, Kikamaru" Oishi replied.

"Heh … Echizen and Uzumaki eh? I would like to see them in action…" Another third year, Fuji smiled serenely with his eyes closed.

* * *

(After school)

"Hm….. Ne Echizen, yesterday Momoshiro-senpai's leg was injured so he was only playing at half strength, that's why you were able to beat him. There's no way you could've defeated a Seigaku regular otherwise. Get it? Hey are you listening? Oi Echizen! Oi! Hey don't ignore me like that!" Horio ….. Spoke.

"Grrrr Can you shut up! Damn you are so annoying dattebayo!" Naruto growled. Horio's babbling was really goddamn irritating at times.

Ryoma sighed as Naruto lost his temper at Horio yet again. He was getting really bored. Like super bored. He couldn't really play tennis during club time as it was prohibited for freshman. They had already completed their laps and were now tasked to simply be ball pickers.

Now if only someone could do his portion of work and shut up Horio, he would be able to get a perfectly nice nap.

"Oi Blondie! Why are you lazing around?! Go and pick up the balls you little punk!" Arai-senpai shouted. He glared at Naruto, trying to look intimidating.

Naruto simply yawned.

"*yawn" hai hai... I'll do it…later" he drawled.

Naruto's dry response only served to piss Arai off. _'Why that cocky runt!'_

He stomped over towards Naruto, intending to beat-some-sense-into-him. Before he could grab his collar though, the tennis gates swung open and 8 people walked in.

"The….There they are! Seigaku's Regulars!" Horio _squealed_ in excitement. Ugh….

Everyone quieted down as the regulars walked in. The regulars simply walked in confidently, used to everyone gazing at them with respect. "G-good afternoon!" The club members wished them.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit tense, Oishi stepped forward.

"We want the newcomers to feel right at home so freshmen are allowed to use the courts until the captain shows up to give further orders. We regulars will be having our practice drills so don't disturb us okay?" With that he walked to the court at the far end to practice with the rest of the regulars.

"Wahoo! Did you hear that Ryoma? We can use the courts! Let's go!" Naruto excitedly dragged Ryoma.

"Sure why not" Ryoma agreed. He had nothing else to do anyway.

On the way there, the freshmen saw the regulars hitting lobs, and all the lobs were smashed right back into the basket. The 1st years all stopped to stare at this amazing spectacle. Except for Ryoma and Naruto who simply walked off.

"W-whoa! This is awesome! No matter where he lobs the ball, they still hit right back in the basket! They have superb control!" Horio exclaimed as he, Kachiro and Katsuo watched their senpais practice.

Suddenly Oishi lobbed the ball but it went too high and too far. The ball continued flying towards a distracted Naruto, who was thinking about making his own special move.

"Watch out!"

Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and watched as the ball came towards him. He lifted his racket and smashed the ball back into the basket. He gave them a cheeky grin and shouted "No need to say thanks senpais!"

The regulars smirked at his cheek while a few of the sophomores growled. Particularly Arai. He did not like how this freshman was showing off. Who did he think he is? He stomped towards Naruto when no one was looking.

"You arrogant little punk! Who do you think you are huh? This isn't a place for 1st year to show off!" Arai lifted Naruto by the collar of his shirt. He was about to say more but stopped when his wrist was grabbed suddenly. He turned his head and saw Ryoma glaring at him.

"Senpai I think that's enough. Release my little brother. _NOW_!" He demanded forcefully.

Arai simply huffed. "And if I don't?" He winced as Ryoma tightened his grip on his wrist. Damn this kid has a strong grip!

"Then I'll be quite angry Senpai. And you won't like me when I'm angry" Ryoma warned with nasty glare on his face that made Arai sweat with nervousness and a bit of fear.

"What is the meaning of this in the courts?" Said a 3rd year with glasses and brown hair, authoritatively _**(is that even a word?)**_

Everyone was silent. Tennis balls dropped and whistle of the wind could be heard.

"Ca-captain Tezuka!" Arai stammered.

"You three, 10 laps around the courts for causing commotion" Tezuka ordered.

'Ah but taicho **(Captain) **it was because of-"

"20 laps! Now!"

"H-hai!"

Arai gave Naruto and Ryoma a last glare before jogging out of the courts and doing his laps, while the duo shrugged and began their laps nonchalantly. Well they needed a warm up anyway.

"Everyone warm up! After that 2nd and 3rd years, get to the courts and start pairing yourselves up to play games, singles or doubles. 1st years get ready to pick balls. That's it for today, get to work!"

"Hai!" The tennis club chorused.

10 minutes later Naruto and Ryoma were done with their laps barely sweating while Arai still at his 5th lap, sweating and panting. _'D-damn them! I'll get those two for this!'_ He swore mentally.

* * *

(Half an hour later)

The tennis club was given a 10 minute break before the final exercises for the day, laps then swing practice. Arai was in the changing room with his two buddies. "Man those two punks piss me off!" Arai growled. Looking around he spotted two tennis racket cases. He walked over and looked at the names and grinned.

"Oh crap!" One of his buddies tripped over something. They went to look at what he tripped on and Arai's grin grew wider.

"Both of you, lend me your years"

* * *

(After the laps)

*Hah* *Hah* *Hah* the sounds of panting filled the court as the freshmen completed their laps.

"The training here is too tough! *Huff* and we haven't even made it to the team yet" Kachiro panted.

"There is still more" Ryoma reminded them 'helpfully'.

"Yeah! We still have to practice our motion swings 500 times. Let's go!" Naruto cheerfully told them, not sweating at all.

All 1st years groaned and started taking out their rackets to start swinging. Ryoma and Naruto went to fetch their rackets but couldn't find them.

"You two sure have guts, not bringing rackets for practice. Since you are so confident, why don't we have a match? Any of you. But since you two don't have any rackets…" Arai trailed as he gave his buddy a smirk. His buddy returned the smirk and handed him an old racket with loose strings. Arai tossed the racket at Ryoma who caught it with a glare.

* * *

"Hey look! Arai is picking on the 1st years again" Kikamaru pointed out.

"Should we stop this? If Tezuka sees this, he won't be happy" Another regular with reflective glasses, Inui asked.

"Nah. Let's see how this turn out" Fuji grinned.

* * *

"Ha well what do you know, there was one left! That piece of junk fits you two perfectly. If you get what I'm saying, stop being so cocky. Maybe if you comply, your precious rackets might return to you!" Arai taunted and started to walk away.

Naruto and Ryoma growled at Arai and looked at each other. Seemingly agreeing with each other they both nodded. _'Let's kick his ass!'_

Ryoma turned around and walked towards an empty court. "Fine let's play" he called out to Arai.

Arai, although unnerved by Ryoma's confidence, grinned. This brat was playing right into his hands. How perfect!

* * *

"1-0, game to Arai"

'_Heh….he's going to make a fool of himself at this rate. That'll teach him a lesson'_ Arai thought.

He served the ball and watched as it went in Ryoma's court. Ryoma took his position and tried to hit the ball. He applied more force than before as the previous balls hit the net.

*twang* The racket made a weird sound as the ball hit it. The ball shot forward, passing Arai and hit the fence behind him.

"Out! 15-love"

Naruto growled. With those loose strings Ryoma won't be able to add a top spin at all. Unless…

"Ryoma!" He called out and started turning his body wildly.

Ryoma simply smirked. "Don't worry. I got it already. BEFORE you did" he teased. Getting a stuck out tongue in return.

'_Ha! Look at these two fooling around like that. They're just trying to act tough. There is no way he could return my shots with THAT racket'_ Arai thought arrogantly.

He served once again. But this time Ryoma was ready for him. As soon as he got in position, he turned his body, letting the ball hit the racket before turning back, trying to add a top spin to the ball. The ball flew from his racket and went towards Arai's court, bouncing off the ground and earning him the point!

"15-all!"

"Sugoi! How did he hit that ball back? And it was pretty fast too!"

"Maybe the racket wasn't THAT old…."

"No, that can't be. There was a weird impact sound!"

"Grrr….. That was just luck!" Arai served again, Ryoma twisted his body the same way and scored another point.

"15-30"

"Game Echizen! 1 game all!"

"Game Echizen! 2-1"

'_H-how? How can he hit shots like that with that pathetic racket?!'_ Arai was not having a good time. Not at all.

"As they say, a great calligrapher doesn't need to choose his pens" Fuji said, smiling.

"Game Echizen! 3-1"

"Oi Naruto! I'm getting bored why don't you play now? Senpai **did** challenge us both right?" Ryoma smirked. Naruto grinned.

"Hell yeah dattebayo!" With an excited yell Naruto got on the court, ready to play.

"Why you…." Arai growled and served. Naruto got ready to hit the ball.

'_Alright time to test out what I wanted to try for a while'_ Just like Ryoma he twisted his body but at the same time he channeled his chakra into the racket and hit the ball.

The ball flew towards Arai's court but as soon as it passed the net, it appeared as if the ball **multiplied** into **2 balls**!

'_W-what?!'_ Everyone was stunned.

But the next moment the copies vanished and only one ball was visible, heading towards Arai. Arai, snapping out of his stupor, tried to hit it but Naruto's shot was too powerful and blew his racket away.

Silence.

Nobody could utter a word. All of them were struck speechless by the multiplying of balls and the display of raw the silence was broken.

"AWWW! I almost had it! But I guess making a special move wouldn't be that easy" Naruto pouted. But brightened anyways.

"Oh well. Shall we continue senpai?" he asked mischievously.

Arai gulped. Like hell can continue! That display was more than enough to establish a lesson for him. _DO NOT MESS WITH THESE FRESHMEN!_

"N-no I think it's alright! Its my loss! Both of you will get your rackets back. Ehehe…ummm s-s-sorry about the trouble by the way….. uhh yeah I think I'll be going home now….." Arai _squeaked_. He ran away home as his buddies handed the two freshmen their rackets and apologized for what it was worth. They also ran away after that out of sheer embarrassment.

* * *

Kikamaru whistled. "Damn that was awesome! Those two are really good!"

"Indeed…So are they coming? To the **Ranking Matches**?" Inui asked.

"Yeah….. I hope so….. It would be a shame if they don't….Though the final decision does lie with Tezuka….So who knows?" Fuji answered with an ever-lasting smile. These two freshmen were really impressive today and he couldn't wait for to see them in the Ranking Matches.

"Fsshh Baka** (Idiot)** Arai! Making the 2nd years lose face like that" Kaidou hissed.

"But both of them are really good at tennis. I'm afraid of losing to them. Hope I don't face them during the Ranking Matches…" Kawamura mumbled.

Fuji smiled and handed him his racket. "Here Taka-San"

"BURRNINGG! ANY OF YOU COME AND FACE ME, THE GREATO! I'LL TAKE YOU STRAIGHT ON! POWWWEEEERRRRRR!"

Everyone sweat dropped.

* * *

(Above in the classrooms)

In the room were Tezuka, Oishi and Ryuzaki-Sensei. They were gathered to decide the players for the Ranking Matches. Block A and Block B were decided. But there were still two spots left. One in Block C and one in Block D. They were discussing who to pick when they heard the commotion going on in the court.

After watching the whole fiasco, Tezuka turned to Oishi.

"Make all of them run 20 laps around the court for causing that riot."

"Even the regulars?" Oishi asked with a smile. He already knew what would be the answer.

"Double laps for regulars for not stopping it"

Yup. Same old Tezuka.

As Oishi went outside to fulfill that order, Ryuzaki-Sensei approached Tezuka. "So have you decided yet? On who to pick for the last two spots?" asked the old woman.

"Hn" Tezuka followed Oishi out of the room. Ryuzaki-Sensei picked up the sheets of paper and observed them. There were two names at the end of Block C and Block D that made her smile. She too then took the papers and walked out of the room.

_She has a feeling that the upcoming Ranking Matches will be unforgettable._

**There it is! The end of Chapter 4. I know this chapter was shorter than the last one. But I'm currently very busy and rarely get time to write. **

**Also my exams are coming, so I wanted to post this before I started studying for them.**

**Anyways, as you can see Naruto didn't get to do much in this chapter. But worry not! He will prove himself during the Ranking Matches. Not only that but we also got to see a sneak peek at Naruto's special move! Though I guess its quite obvious at this point :) **

**Also about the ranking matches, can any of you guess which 2 regulars will Naruto will be facing in his block? :P**

**If you wanna take a guess, Review or PM!**

**Ja Ne :D**


	5. Ranking Matches Part 1

**Tennis Maelstrom**

**This was an idea I had after I started watching Prince of Tennis again. This story is inspired by the story "Tennis No Jutsu" by ZMiDnIgHtSuNz. Please give it a read. It's really good.**

**I haven't updated in a while and for that I apologize. Real life rarely grants me any time to write any more what with college and all. I thank everyone who had waited all this time, for their patience. I still can't give you all a definite schedule. Because I don't know when I'll update next.**

**Anyways, enjoy this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 5: Ranking Matches (Part 1)**

The day of **Ranking Matches** has finally arrived. The Ranking Matches is a monthly event at Seigaku's Tennis Club. It is the tournament that decides the Regulars of the tennis team. Since this is a monthly event, everyone is on their toes and the competition is always stiff as there is no telling who might just become a Regular.

The tournament consists of 4 blocks – **A**, **B**, **C** and **D**. Each block has 6 participants and the top 2 participants of each block are chosen as Regulars. That means a total of 8 Regulars. Only 8 winners in a tournament with 24 participants.

Tough competition indeed.

Now usually in the Ranking Matches only the Seniors and Juniors are allowed. Freshmen are never considered for it. Except for this year that is.

This year, a special exception has been made for allowing two Freshmen to enter the tournament. These two Freshmen, with their exceptional skills had created an uproar in Seigaku's Tennis Club. Both Freshmen are said to be a cut above the rest of their peers.

**Echizen Ryoma** and **Uzumaki Naruto**.

Both have them have shown their amazing tennis skills to the Tennis Club. They gained everyone's attention, including the attention of Seigaku's stoic and no-nonsense-tolerating captain** Kunimitsu Tezuka**.

Tezuka saw their amazing skills and decided to enter their names for the Ranking Matches this month, if only to see their true strength when pitted against the elites of Seigaku. And so Naruto was put in Block C whereas Ryoma was put in Block D.

* * *

"Whoa I still can't believe the Ryoma-Kun and Naruto-Kun are playing the matches! It's the first time that Freshmen are participating in this tournament!" Katsuo exclaimed in excitement as they stood near the tennis courts.

"Hehe yeah its so amazing! Ne wouldn't it be cool if both of them became Regulars! Then us Freshmen will have something to really talk about!" Kachiro agreed.

"Hmm indeed it is something that has never happened before. But just because they are entering in the tournament doesn't mean they will necessarily win. The Seniors and Regulars are on a whole other level after all." Horio gave his opinion.

This only annoyed Kachiro. He huffed in anger.

"Hmpf Horio-Kun don't you have any faith in Ryoma-Kun and Naruto-Kun? Don't you want them to win? Huh?"Kachiro asked Horio.

Horio blanched at the accusation.

"Wh-what? Of course I want them to win! I'm just saying that they should be careful in this tournament as the other participants are way stronger than the senpais they have played against till now. I was just concerned" Horio defended.

Hearing this Kachiro and Katsuo forgot their annoyance at Horio's pessimism. They grew concerned as well.

"Hmm Horio-Kun has a point. Will Ryoma-Kun and Naruto-Kun be really ok?" Katsuo wondered worriedly.

"Awww they are all so worried about us! Aren't our friends just adorable? Ne Ryoma?" Came Naruto's teasing voice.

"Heh" Came Ryoma's reply.

The freshmen trio turned and saw Naruto with a cheeky grin on his face and Ryoma with an amused smirk. The freshmen trio's mood brightened at seeing their two friends.

"Ah! Naruto-Kun, Ryoma-Kun! Are you ready for your matches? You are going to face some very strong senpais. Be careful okay…" Katsuo wished them luck but was still somewhat worried.

Seeing this Naruto chuckled and pat his friend's shoulder. "Man you don't need to worry so much okay? We are just going to play some tennis against senpais. Its not like we are going to fight them or anything like that" Naruto reassured his friends.

Ryoma suddenly gained Naruto's attention.

"Oi Naruto lets go. Our matches are about to start"

"Yosh lets go!"

* * *

**(At Block C)**

Naruto gazed at his opponent, observing him. He tossed the ball high and hit it as it came down. The served ball travelled to the opponent's court at high speed. It landed in the court and bounced towards the opponent who tried to return it but his racket was blown away from his hand due to Naruto's powerful serve.

"G-G-Game, Set and Match Uzumaki! 6-0" The referee announced Naruto's overwhelming victory over his now despairing opponent. The poor 2nd year student could only sigh in defeat at how easily he was destroyed by a freshman.

"Whoa! That was his third straight win! Amazing Naruto-Kun!" Katsuo cheered as well as the people around him. Even the 2nd and 3rd year students. Hey they might not like that a guy younger than them was doing so much better than them but they had come to respect his skills. And this tournament selects the representatives of their school, so they can swallow their pride and cheer for the amazingly talented freshmen.

Both of them.

**(At Block D)**

Ryoma tossed the ball and hit his serve against his opponent. His opponent couldn't even begin to react as the ball bounced past him at high speed.

Service Ace

"G-Game, Set and Match Echizen! 6-0" The referee announced a bit nervously. Damn that match was one-sided!

"Holy crap! Echizen utterly crushed that guy" Horio whistled in amazement.

"Yeah! I never knew Ryoma-Kun was _this_ good. That's his third straight win" Kachiro exclaimed in happiness.

Since both Naruto and Ryoma were in different blocks and their matches took place around the same time, the freshmen trio decided to split up and watch their matches.

As soon as the match was over Ryoma walked out of the court and headed towards the main scoreboard. He still had to inform them of the match score and he knew Naruto would be on his way to there.

* * *

Arai was not having a good day. Not at all. He could have been doing anything right now like watching the matches with his friends or even train for the next month's tournament. But no. Here he was stuck on score duty, IN THIS GOD FORSAKEN HEAT! He was tasked to keep track of match scores of each block. It was originally Oishi-Senpai's duty but seeing as Oishi-Senpai had his own matches, Captain Tezuka instead tasked Arai to do this.

It might also be his punishment for picking on the freshmen so much. Maybe.

Seeing as more people were coming to him, he snapped out of his thoughts and focused on his task. He twitched when he saw exactly who have arrived.

"Oh its you two… Score?"

"Block C, Uzumaki Naruto 6-0"

"Block D, Echizen Ryoma 6-0"

'_Damn these two are utterly dominating their opponents…'_ Arai thought nervously.

It was true. Both Naruto and Ryoma had till now played three matches each and destroyed their competition. Neither of them lost even a single game, ending their matches with perfect 6-0 wins.

"Good job you two! Its lunch break for now. The break will last for an hour. You two better rest plenty because both of you have more matches ahead. Good luck for that!" Arai wished them luck. Hey he might have been jealous of their skills and tried to bully them, but there was no denying that these brats were very good players. He respected that. After thinking over his actions from before, he was ashamed of himself and vowed to be a better senpai to the freshmen and to be a much better player than he ever was before through hard work. He would now work to earn the freshmen's respect rather than simply demanding it.

Seeing Arai's positive attitude change was a welcome surprise for Naruto and Ryoma but they nonetheless accepted it. Naruto grinned cheekily while Ryoma simply gave an amused smirk.

"Speaking of matches, who am I facing next senpai?" Ryoma asked.

Arai checked his sheet and answered.

"Whoa this is gonna be great! Echizen will be facing off against **Kaidoh Kaoru**. He is a 2nd year like me but is on a whole other level as he is a Regular."

Hearing he will be facing a strong opponent Ryoma smirked.

"What about me senpai? Who will I be facing?" Naruto asked in barely contained excitement. He hopes to get a strong opponent too!

"Hmm lets see. Uzumaki will be facing off against **Kawamura Takashi**. He is 3rd year and is also a regular. He is rumored to be physically the strongest one out of all the Regulars so you better watch out brat"

Of course Arai's warning was swiftly ignored by an excited Naruto.

"AW HELL YEAH! Did you hear that Ryoma? We finally get play against Regulars! Hehe Man I can't wait! This is gonna be awesome dattebayo!" Naruto cheered.

"Yeah. This will be interesting" Ryoma agreed as well. From what he had heard, Seigaku's Regulars consist of some of the best Junior High Level players in the country. And they get to face off against them. Of course he was excited but his excitement was more controlled than his hyperactive little brother.

* * *

**(Sometime Later)**

Word had quickly spread throughout the campus. The two amazing freshmen will be facing off against the Regulars. Everyone was curious about how it would end. The freshmen were definitely talented and were unbeatable so far. But how would they fare against Seigaku's elites? That was the question everyone was asking.

"Hmm I must say this is quite the development. Did you know that this would happen Tezuka?" Fuji asked his captain with eyes closed and a serene smile on his face.

"What do you mean?" Tezuka asked nonchalantly in return.

Fuji's smile turned a little amused.

"Each block has 6 participants. That means 5 matches for each participant in a block for every competitor other than himself. This means that only one person can have a perfect record of 5 wins and 0 losses. That person will definitely be a Regular. However those with the next highest record of 4 wins will also be considered.

In their respective blocks, Echizen-Kun and Uzumaki-Kun have already won 3 matches. Their remaining two opponents are regulars. If they win even one more match, they will eligible to be a Regular and one of the Regulars will lose their spot. This creates even more pressure on everyone and forces them to give their very best to win. Isn't that right?"

Before Tezuka could reply another person did it for him.

"That's right Fuji. Because of this pressure, everyone will play their best and we would finally be able to see Ryoma and Naruto's true strength. This will also push the Regulars to give it all as they know that this time they may really lose their spot as a Regular." Ryuzaki-Sensei explained.

"Hmm so not only do we get to see the freshmens' true strength but the Regulars get a valuable experience as well huh? That's nice…Heh…Its just a pity that I didn't get to play against either Echizen-Kun or Uzumaki-Kun… But I guess Momoshiro-Kun will do for now" With that Fuji walked off as the break was almost over and his match would soon start.

After discussing some things with the coach, Tezuka walked off as well to warm up for his match.

Ryuzaki-Sensei watched the courts carefully as players of different blocks were doing warm up exercises for their matches ahead. She only had one thought in her mind.

'_After this tournament, Seigaku will never be the same again'_

**AND THERE IT IS! END OF CHAPTER 5! **

**I know its been quite a while since I updated and I'm sorry for that. This chapter didn't had much action barely if any at all. This chapter is more of a build up to the actual matches in the next chapter. Sorry again if anyone was disappointed. But I haven't written in quite a while so I just wanted to slowly ease back into my flow you know.**

**It also came to my notice that spelled Ryoma's Mother's name wrong. Her name is Rinko but I wrote it as Ringo. Whoops :P My bad! I'll take care it doesn't happen again.**

**But anyways if you haven't already noticed, I have made some changes in the tournament. I didn't know how many people were in each block so I made it that every block had 6 people. Hence 5 matches for everyone in that block.**

**Example:-**

**Match1: Player1 VS Player2**

**Match2: Player1 VS Player3**

**Match3: Player1 VS Player4**

**Match4: Player1 VS Player5**

**Match5: Player1 VS Player6**

**Well that's how the matches go for each player in a block.**

**Another thing you might have noticed that FUJI IS NOT IN NARUTO'S BLOCK. There is a reason for that. Frankly I didn't want Naruto to face off against Fuji right now. Period. That confrontation will happen at a later time. **

**So I shuffled some Regulars to different blocks.**

**Here is how the different blocks and Regulars go :**

**Block A: ****Tezuka, Kikumaru, 4 other random players**

**Block B: ****Fuji, Momoshiro, 4 other random players**

**Block C: ****Oishi, Kawamura, Naruto, 3 other random players**

**Block D: ****Inui, Kaidoh, Ryoma, 3 other random players**

**.**

**.**

**.**

**QUESTION: WHO DO YOU THINK WILL LOSE THEIR REGULAR SPOT IN NARUTO'S BLOCK? KAWAMURA OR OISHI?**

**ANSWER in the REVIEW along with REASON and I might just consider it…..**

**Anyway that's all from me from this chapter. Hoped you liked it. If you wanna tell me something (good or bad) about this chapter, be sure to REVIEW! If you have any suggestions, PM me :)**

**With that I take your leave**

**Ja Ne **


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